Leading questions: The end of leadership – redux

Abstract

The article proposes that patterns of dominance and deference have changed throughout human history. It further proposes that in the last half century such change has-due to culture and technology-accelerated. These fundamental shifts have not, however, had an impact on the leadership industry, which continues, erroneously, to presume that leaders are all-important, that followers are unimportant, and that context is other than central. It is concluded that leadership education and development must themselves adapt to the changing times-times in which leaders generally are losing power and influence, while followers generally are gaining. Keywords Leaders, followers, leadership industry, trajectory of history I've been told the title of my most recent book, The End of Leadership, is somewhat hyperbolic. I incline-sometimes-to agree. After all, I wanted the title to attract attention, not to be taken be taken literally, as if there will be no more leaders, ever. But as I write this particular piece, not long after the electoral defeat of French President Nicolas Sarkozy by his opponent, Francois Hollande, and as I tally up the losses of European leaders since the start of the debt crisis (no fewer than 16 EU nations, well over half the total, have had a change of government), I wonder. I wonder now as I do in the book if something fundamental is changing, if the balance of power between leaders and followers is shifting in ways that are permanent, with leaders generally losing power and influence, and followers generally gaining. This is not to say that the meek will inherit the earth, or that the poor will vanquish the rich, or that those without authority will from here on in lord it over those with. Rather it is to point out that leaders everywhere-in every corner of the globe and in the different sectors-are increasingly vulnerable to forces beyond their control and that followers everywhere are lying in wait, ready to pounce on those ostensibly better positioned than they.

Relationship Between Middle Managers' Transformational Leadership and Effective Followership Behaviors in Organizations

“…The findings of the current study have implications for how employees work within organizations. Similarities between leadership and followership behaviors may help destigmatize followership (Kellerman, ), while at the same time help employees realize that being leaders does not preclude them from being followers (Schedlitzki et al, ). Such realization may help create a cooperative environment while preventing leaders from acting in condescending ways towards their followers (Chaleff, ).…”

“…Leader‐follower roles are flexible: one can operate as a leader as well as a follower at the same time (Baker, ; Chaleff, ; Hurwitz & Hurwitz, ; Kellerman, ). Employees, especially middle‐management staff, often switch between leader‐follower roles in organizations (Baker et al, ; Nielsen & Cleal, ).…”

Follower-Centric Leadership and Emotions: an Interdisciplinary Perspective

“…leader-centrism), kuris yra kritikuotinas dėl sekėjo vaidmens ignoravimo ar nelygiaverčio sekėjo svarbos vertinimo lyderystės procese (Kellerman, 2013 Siekiant prisidėti prie paradigmų integracijos lyderystės srityje, šiame straipsnyje lyderio procesas (lyderio -sekėjo diada) analizuojamas vadovaujantis emocijų užkrečiamumo teorija. Atsižvel-giant į tai, šio straipsnio tikslas -remiantis naujausiais tarpdisciplininiais tyrimų rezultatais, paaiškin-ti lyderio ir sekėjo sąveiką per emocijų užkrečiamu-mo teoriją, atskleisti šių žinių integracijos svarbą lyderystės teorijos vystymuisi.…”

Managerial Rhetoric, Accountability, and School Leadership in Contemporary Australia

“…Luc Boltanski and Eve 170 Scott Eacott and Judith Norris Chiapello (2005) argue that since the mid-1970s, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure primarily on the basis of the attack on the alienation of everyday life by capitalism and bureaucracy. In parallel to this recasting of administrative labor, the "leadership industry," at least in the U.S., was spawned and sustained as corporate America was, for the first time since the Second World War, fearful of competition from abroad, especially Japan (Kellerman, 2013). It was during this time that Edward Deming's (1982) book Out of the Crisis was able to bring Tayloristic thinking 1 into a new time and space of managerial discourses.…”

“…Correspondingly, when things are not going as well as desired, leaders (frequently limited to those who hold the highest office within an organization) are often held to account. As Barbara Kellerman (2013) notes, since the beginning of the European debt crisis, over half of the European Union nations have had a change of government. Luc Boltanski and Eve 170 Scott Eacott and Judith Norris Chiapello (2005) argue that since the mid-1970s, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure primarily on the basis of the attack on the alienation of everyday life by capitalism and bureaucracy.…”